Reborn (Shadow Beast Shifter, #3)(99)

Nope.

Her biggest mistake was not killing us all when she had the chance, because it was her day of reckoning, and we were the ones delivering it.

The light grew brighter around her, the heat as well, and I was so fucking jumpy that I almost pissed myself when Angel moved a millimeter beside me, her wings brushing mine. My tiny shriek and stumble forward broke some of the tension as multiple amused smiles crossed faces.

“You can take the woman out of Earth, but—” Lucien was cut off when an explosion of energy knocked us all back from the fortress.

My wings extended, stopping me before I skidded into the lava chasm, and then two flaps later, I was back in the circle, surrounding an extremely pissed-off-looking Dannie.

Dannie, who had changed again.

Whatever humanoid parts of her that had been there before were gone.

She was a full phoenix, standing as tall as me.

Her beak opened, and a loud screech emerged, which eventually turned into words. “You made a grave mistake,” she bellowed, flames shooting off her as the ground trembled. “It will all fall now, and when I rebuild, it will be a better world and future.”

None of the others seemed that concerned, moving in closer, their energy humming in the air as they prepared to attack. I did the same, but no lie, my gut was twisted in knots at what was happening. What the fuck were we going to do if she was still too strong for us?

Before anyone even got a chance to find out, Dannie did the opposite of what I’d expected and angled her wings to drop between us. It took me a beat to understand why she’d done that, and it was only when her clawed foot tapped against the land and the rumble increased that I figured it out. She was doing exactly what her son had attempted not that long ago.

Destroying the Shadow Realm.

Before any of us even had a chance to attempt to lock her down with our power, the chasm exploded, spitting out flames that would tear through almost everyone here. With those flames came a truly terrifying sight, clawing their way up from the lava below.

“She’s resurrecting the dead,” Alistair said, his hands clenched tightly in front of him. “All of those lost to the lava mists.”

“Fuck.”

That one word was from Shadow, and I knew that meant this was bad. No, not bad. Cata-fucking-strophic.

“How many beings have died in the chasms?” I asked, my wings the only thing keeping me standing as the ground tremors worsened. “Outside of all the creatures.”

“I believe it was a regular punishment here,” Angel said, having to lift herself off the ground now.

“Yes,” Shadow confirmed. “Sacrifice into the mists is common.”

Now it was my turn. Fuck.

The others had to lift themselves up as well, Inky and Midnight doing their best to shield us all from the shooting spurts of lava attempting to take us out. Lava that didn’t bother me or my power, and knowing I might have the only shot, I darted forward, blasting Dannie with a bolt of pure energy.

We had to stop her before this army of undead reached us. They’d clearly be very hard to, uh… kill, giving her a true advantage. My power was deflected by a bolt of her own, and she countered with a strike back at me.

I’d been ready for it, swiping it aside, surprised that she did feel much weaker. We had to finish this shit before she had time to recharge, and that meant I could not stop now.

I attacked with force, and every time her power hit me, it was like a sledgehammer to my gut, but I was fueled by such anger and determination that I barely let it faze me. My determination to save my loved ones added a ferocity to my attack that she was missing.

Her movements slowed, and when she got her shield up a second too slow, I was able to hit her at full power, slamming her against the wall of the castle, the force sending feathers flying around her.

“Give up the stone, Dannie,” I shouted at her. “Give it up and have a chance at redemption.”

At this point, I noticed that Shadow was at my side, but so far, he was allowing me to take the lead in this one-on-one battle. It cost him to do so, if the tense expression on his face was any indication, but his faith in me was too strong to break his resolve.

Love. He spoke it at an expert level.

Dannie laughed, a screeching, chill-inducing sound, and I blasted her again, but she managed to slip free. She might have been weaker, but she was far from fragile, especially as her literal zombie fire creatures exploded across the land. There was just so much to unpack about what was going on here. Not time for that, though.

Shadow joined me this time, the two of us using our energy to try to contain her, all the while Dannie stepped up her game, sending out her long tail feathers to strike at us. I had no idea what was going to happen if they hit us, but thankfully, Shadow was able to cut them off before we had a chance to find out.

At one point, he managed to bind her powers—he was an expert at that after all—but she only laughed again and broke free even faster than she had when I’d held her against the wall. As she got loose, I slammed her as hard as I could, and Shadow’s power increased at my side until my skin hurt from the hot blast of his energy. But together, we were holding her. The only problem was that Len couldn’t get close enough to attempt to remove the stone. The fae was trapped in the middle of Inky and Midnight, who were shielding all of our friends from the lava and creatures. And they were almost losing the battle thanks to powerful mist-driven zombies.